Completely overwhelmed. Scared. And more than anything, completely shocked. This is how Vanessa describes her emotions after learning she had Stage IV endometrial cancer in April, on the day her son turned 12 years old.
After enduring complications from surgery that left her barely able to walk, Vanessa was unable to return to her job. She had been the GM at a restaurant, which meant lots of stairs, walking and much more physical activity than she could handle. As the primary wage earner for her family, she was extremely concerned about finances while enduring six rounds of chemotherapy.
“I have cancer, I can’t walk and I can’t work,” Vanessa remembers thinking to herself. “What are we going to do? It was incredibly stressful to our finances. I don’t want to lose our house. I don’t want to move in with family members.”
After breaking down to her Beaumont social worker, Vanessa was introduced to New Day. Through mortgage payments and grocery gift cards, New Day was able to help Vanessa and her family through the worst part of her treatments.
“Both were absolutely awesome; extremely helpful,” she said of New Day and Beaumont. “Chrissy was so accommodating and she met me at Beaumont with a bag of things for my children. In this area, they’re the only organization available when you’re trying to find some type of assistance. I’m incredibly thankful to New Day. They are a wonderful organization and I’m hoping we can assist them in the future. Giving back would be wonderful.”
Today, Vanessa has finished chemo and received clear CT scans, although further biopsies are needed on her lymph nodes. She still has monetary concerns as she is not working, but she looks forward to the day when she is able to give back to the organization that helped bridge her family’s financial gap during treatment.